What are some big picture reasons humans might care about biological diversity in the first place?
Why should we value nature
Chapter 1: The value of biological diversity
- Scientific Value:
- Value to Human Health:
- Economic Value:
- Cultural Value:
- Ethical Value:
- Intrinsic Value:
The value of biological diversity: frogs case study
- Support ecosystem functions
- scientific value
- Amphibians are critical in food webs as both predators and prey and keep invertebrate populations in check
- Provide value as pest control
The value of biological diversity: frogs case study
- Provide health/economic value as nutrition
- French eat 4,000 tones of frog legs per year
- Part of diet for Asia, Africa, Europe, and Americas
- 20 species are known to be edible to humans
The value of biological diversity: frogs case study
- Provide human health services as biomedicines
- Amphibians skin secretions can be used for developing new antimicrobial and antiviral drugs
- easy to obtain!
- Australian red-eyed tree-frog (Litoria chloris) and relatives give us a compound capable of preventing HIV infection, the cause of AIDS
- Over 5,000 species to explore….
The value of biological diversity: frogs case study
- Environmental sentinels
- skin used to drink and breath makes then susceptible to chemicals
- Amphibians are indicators of environmental contaminants that can harm humans and other animals
- Widely used pesticide Atrazine can turn male frogs into females
- known to cause cancer in humans
- sterilizes frogs at levels below EPA drink water guidelines
- currently above EPA levels in drinking water for >1 million humans
The Value of Biological Diversity: frogs case study
- Aesthic/Cultural value
- Amphibians are revered around the world, they are viewed as agents of rain, fertility, and luck
- Kermit is a protagonist for American children
- In other cultures frogs and toads have been despised and regarded as evils
Value of Nature = assigning importance
The value of biological diversity
- Ecosystem services = varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment from healthy ecosystems
- Healthy ecosystems provide benefits for all life on earth, but valuing them for what the provide humans is a key management and policy tool (especially for global change)
- which ones are the most vulnerable?
- which ones are the most essential to humans?
- globally? regionally? locally? culturally?
What’s your best guess as to the annual value in US dollars per year of global ecosystem services?
The value of biological diversity
- Two studies - Nature paper in 1997 and a re-evaluation and update in 2011
- Used lots in individual studies to synthesis values of measured ecosystem services globally
- 33 trillion (1997) - 125 trillion (2011)
- 1997 paper predicted that economic value could only increase
The value of biological diversity
- Why is value going up?
- How many reasons can we list?
- Total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced (GDP) in 2020 was $85 trillion.
- What does this comparison mean to you?
- Look up the GDP of major countries
- What is the worth of the largest companies?
The value of biological diversity: Where is the $ at?
- All biomes do not appear to be created equal..in terms of $
- What is the connection between biodiversity and biome value
- Which biomes are most abundant
- What does this mean for the future?
- A recent study predicts that values can shift by trillions every year based on global change and decision making
The value of biological diversity
There is a false dichotomy between “the environment” and “the economy”.
- Without the environment there would be no economy.
Are there potential down-sides of valuing ecosystem services monetarily?
- Commodification and privatization of natural resources
Valuing nature: Lots of complex & conflicting benefits
Economic value of endangered species can lead to further declines
Devastating armed conflicts over natural resources
Abysmal working conditions in resource extraction
Bioprospecting and biopiracy
Ecosystem services now have the white house’s attention…
- America the beautiful initiative
- locally led and voluntary nationwide effort to conserve 30% of US lands and waters by 2023
- USDA expand and renews Conservation Reserve Program
- goal is to enroll up to 4 million new acres to preserving topsoil, sequestering carbon, and reducing nitrogen runoff, as well providing healthy habitat for wildlife
Next up: Friday open-discussion on the ‘value of nature’
- Which value resonates most with you personally?
- Make a persuasive argument for which value aspect of biodiversity is the most important?
- Prepare a ‘legal brief’ to present to a small group
- summarize your argument into a few key points
- provide real tangible evidence
- submit your brief on Brightspace (can be rough)
- Feel free to argue the path less traveled
- Your small group will need to come to a decision based on everyone’s briefs